Lashawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner had not faced off since their Olympic finals race last summer when Merritt dethroned the 2004 Athens Olympic champion Wariner for the 400 meter gold medal. With Wariner rejoining his old coach Clyde Hart for the 2009 season, many were expecting him to return back to the top after being knocked to #2 by Merritt in 2008. The race in Berlin turned out to be a nearly identical race and results from Beijing with Merritt (pictured left from UniversalSports.com) pulling away from Wariner in the final 400 meters in a World leading time of 44.06 and Wariner as the silver medalist in a season best time of 44.60. Only 23 years of age, the Portsmouth native and graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School is certainly on top of the World with many years left to go after more gold medal glory in track & field.
Three other Virginians also competed in Berlin for the 2009 IAAF World Championships including Charles Clark (formerly of Bayside HS in Virginia Beach), Sheena Tosta (formerly of Gar-Field HS in Dumfries), and Keith Moffatt (formerly of Menchville HS in Newport News). Tosta, a silver medalist in last summer's Olympic Games, had a disappointing showing in the women's 400 meter hurdles as she failed to make the finals from her semi-finals heat. Clark, a surprise qualifier for the US team, was able to advance on to the first two rounds in the 200 meter dash and the NCAA national champion placed sixth (20.39) in the finals in which the top five were all under 20 seconds. Moffatt is competing in the men's high jump today, which has yet to be completed and has been affected by a slick jumping surface from an earlier downpour of rain.
You can find online live & replay video coverage of all events completed on UniversalSports.com, a partner of MileSplit US, which MileStat.com is an affiliate site of. Post-Race Interview with Merritt from Flotrack